When I purchased my 1995 Camry from a Toyota dealer as an Authorized Preowned Vehicle, I had the dealer install a CD player. Recently, the performance of this player has been spotty at best. It will play some CDs all the time, some CDs some of the time, and some CDs never. Needless to say, I would like to have a CD player that plays any CD.
As a first line of attack, I would like to see if the player just needs a cleaning. However, all the cleaners I've come across are designed for home CD players, rather than auto CD players. As a result, they have bristles that stick down. These don't go into the slot of an auto player very well. Does anyone know of a CD-player cleaner that would work in this setting?
Assuming that my first line of attack does not work, I would like to replace the CD player, preferably with another Toyota CD player. Does anyone know where I might track one down?
I've always advised my customers with audio issues to just put in a decent aftermarket unit. Cruthfield is a great company. Call them, and they will tell you exactly what fits your car, AND send you any wire harness adapters and dashboard fit kits, plus instructions for free. You can get an aftermarket unit that has more features and sounds better than the factory unit for 1/3 of the price.
================ I'll second that. In an effort to keep my 1994 Camry looking factory original, I've purchased several used Toyota radios and a CD player. Last time the radio and CD player started acting up, I decided to go to Crutchfield. Searched their product line by number of reviews. The Alpine CDE-9843 for $129 delivered, received 63 very positive reviews. Installed it yesterday. Can't get out of the car now. Keep listening to finish that last song. Whether I'm listening to radio or CD that sound through the original speakers is really excellent. Clarity - depth, makes all the old CDs worth listening to again, just to hear what I was missing. Plus it doesn't skip when driving over bumps in the road like the original. I would recommend the Alpine line simply for the terrific sound. Seems their product line is similar throughout price ranges, primarily differing in extra features available.
I was amazed, too. Last night I was looking at the underside of the speakers in the rear deck lid and was surprised to discover, under closer examination, that the speaker cone connects to the outside edge with something that looks like foam rubber, like many of the replacement aftermarket speakers. I was checking to see if it looked likely I might be damaging the stock speakers by running too much bass volume. (like Beethoven's Fifth at levels that are slightly frightening) Also, the wiring terminals were soldered on - not press on clips. I soldered all the connections when installing the new radio wiring harness also - don't know if that made any difference, but every single wiring connection is electrically very solid as I took my time ensuring the soldering joints flowed correctly and fully. Crutchfield includes a Toyota harness adapter at no charge so no wires are cut and the original unit could be easily re installed. It's basically just a radio and CD and MP3 player, but the technology has improved a lot since 1994. Alpine seems to have a reputation for superior sound quality. The receiver includes their "bass engine" technology, where you can set the "center frequency" to be emphasized, (from five digital choices), and the "band width" around it, then the volume for the bass. For treble, it is "center frequency", although the radio on FM sounded good right out of the box. Found myself listening to "oldies" radio songs in detail because of the clarity of the sounds, whereas before, they just sounded like old songs to me for the most part. On those rear deck lid speakers, I also discovered, that in addition to the speaker grille on top, there is also a fabric protection over the speaker cone, so it appears that even with years of exposure to sun, those stock speakers are still pristine - which is amazing - must be the Toyota concept of "kaizen" - continuous improvement in every detail
- certainly seems like some thought went into the speaker design. I'm certain the novelty will wear off. For the first few days, I've kept the operation booklet in the door pocket to learn the controls and features. For example, there are two FM bands, so you have 12 presets. For the first six, I use my old presets, and for the next six, I use the "automatic memory" tuning, where the receiver digitally scans for the strongest signals and sets them in memory in a few seconds. In reading the online reviews, I saw owners of Ford Taurus also marveling at the improvement in sound with stock speakers, so I'd guess the credit goes to the circuitry in the Alpine. While I don't plan on buying anything else soon, they did give me a referral number: p4a97-hhxbd-2kugy which gives you a $20 credit over $200, and puts a credit on my account for future use.
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